Environmental Watchdog Group Hosting Town Hall Meeting On Pilgrim Pipeline Project

MONTVILLE, N.J. — The New Jersey Sierra Club will host a town hall meeting Tuesday to address the Pilgrim Pipeline program.

The 178-mile underground pipeline would deliver crude oil from Albany, New York through New Jersey and the Bayway Refinery in Linden. Gasoline and heating oil would be sent back up to New York.

The meeting will be held in the Montville Public Library, 90 Horseneck Road at 7 p.m.

The Sierra Club, an environmental watchdog non-profit, and the 1,300-member Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipeline are trying to get local and state officials to ban the project.

Related: Residents Continue To Rally Hard Against Pilgrim Pipeline Project

“The Pilgrim Pipeline will carry the most explosive Bakken crude oil through New Jersey, threatening our communities, environmentally sensitive areas, and water supply resources,” said Jeff Tittel, Sierra Club director.

The groups are especially concerned with the pipeline crossing in the Highlands regional of Mahwah and Oakland and over the Ramapo River Aquifer, which provides thousands of residents with drinking water.

“It will cut an ugly scar through the Highlands region, while putting the drinking water for more than 3 million people at risk,” Tittel said. “A spill or explosion would be a disaster for the environment and communities along the route.”

The state Department of Environmental Protection gave Pilgrim permission earlier this year to conduct surveying for the project throughout North Jersey. 

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